My Top iPhone App Picks - Part 1

My Top iPhone App Picks - Part 1

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We're ALL Visual Learners

If you're reading this sentence, you're a visual learner. To get to my blog, use your mouse, swipe your screen or click on the link I tweeted out, you have used the visual processing aspect of your brain. Just like you do to walk from your bed to the bathroom in the morning and pick up your toothbrush instead of a hair brush when you need to brush your teeth.

Almost two weeks ago I went to a talk by Dan Roam at the Rotman school here in Toronto and have been on a completely new mental direction ever since. Dan's book, 'Blah Blah Blah: What to do when words don't work', has been so affirming. It has set my creative imagination on fire and has prevented me from sleeping at a decent hour as my idea generator has been working overtime.

As Dan has stated in a number of fantastic podcast interviews (Boxes and Arrows, Mastermind Podcast, etc.), we have purposefully trained our brains to ignore the visual part of it that makes life so wonderful and meaningful. The linear and the verbal rule the world today. As he has said, we aren't electing Prime Ministers and Presidents based on their drawing skills, but rather their ability to talk. Contrast this present reality with another: the incredible growth of applications like Instagram and other platforms -Twitter and LinkedIn- updating their UI's to be more visually oriented.

Let me quote Dan here for a minute and target this passage to all those linear-focused business folk out there:

"The biggest buzzword in business these days is innovation. The business press, business leaders, and business schools can't say it enough: 'Innovation is the key to success.'...

When we're searching for innovation, aren't we simply seeking a different way of looking at the world? ...Why is it that at the moment in history when we most need to see the world differently, we don't force our mind to look at problems differently? If our goal is to look differently, where have all our pictures gone?"

Good question.
So, let's try an experiment. Take a gander at some of my recent Instragram photos:

Now, what did you just learn about me? 

Facebook How To: Take control of your News Feed

Many of us use Facebook numerous times daily, but don't take advantage of all the settings and customization that is possible. Jay Baer - host of the Social Pros podcast that I listen to - has written an excellent article about taking control of your Facebook News Feed, '3 Ways to Fight Facebook's Algorithm and Customize Your Feed'.

Jay gives some great information before explaining these '3 Ways', to give us an idea of how Facebook's algorithm currently works:

Facebook has altered the math of the game so that only posts that get a disproportionate amount of engagement (likes, clicks, comments, shares) will be seen by a lot of people – regardless of whether those people are fans or friends. This opens up more real estate for Promoted Posts (ads) from companies or people. That’s right, Facebook also (somewhat quietly) announced that they are opening up the option for individuals to buy exposure on a per-post basis. So, if you want even more people to see your cat doing that funny thing, you can spend $7 to make it so.

He then clearly and succinctly (yay!) explains the 3 ways to take control of your News Feed which I've listed below:

1. Change Your News Feed Setting to Most Recent

2. Use Facebook’s Friends Organizer Tool

3. Change Story Preferences For Individuals 

So, I recommend you check out Jay's article and make a stronger effort to see what you want to see on your Feed and/or change it up once in a while to make it more interesting. I've done the changes already. Let me know how you make out.

 

 

The Power of Pinterest

I am a huge fan of podcasts. I listen to a variety of them everyday, and one of my favourites is the Social Media for Small Business podcast out of Australia. Hosted by Cat Matson and Suzi Dafnis, it features wonderful interviews and commentary regarding all things Social Media.

Today, while making my homemade hummus, I listened to their interview with Liz Lynch who talked about smart networking and how Social Media can leverage your network on and offline. She gave some great tips and advice that I certainly appreciated.

At the beginning of every podcast episode, Cat and Suzi discuss recent news that has caught their attention in the Social Media universe. This fantastic article, 'How Pinterest and a single blog post completely changed a company', was mentioned for good reason.

The author, Andre Bourque, writes about Lindsay -the Country Girl- and the effect of her blog post: 

Lindsay’s blog post picture was pinned to Pinterest, and then re-pinned over and over. 

Someone mentioned that the rod she posted could be purchased at Rod Works. A veritable crisis arose, and the company had to react. Rod Works was literally bombarded by Pinterest users, and forced into opening their online store in February 2012.

Read more at http://venturebeat.com/2012/09/09/pinterest-rodworks-online/#ZAxCvL50tq9Om7kV.99 

In agreement with the hosts of the podcast, I think this is an excellent story of success brought about by a Social Media platform, Pinterest. It's truly amazing and encouraging to see how these tools can bring about positive change in so many unexpected ways.